Two Trajectory-Setting Questions to Ask Yourself Right Now

Tell me about the ocean. The way the waves bucket you toward, then away from, the shore. The evening sun slants white light on froth-crested ripples. The mix of wind, water, sea gull, laughter.

Now tell me what brought you here.

What are you seeking?

What are you holding?

As you re-live the memory, name them both—what pulls you to this peaceful place. What comes with you.

If it’s not the ocean for you, choose your paradise place. The spot that fills you with joy. Makes you come alive. Where you hope to return or vacation someday. Pause here and let these two questions unwind that knot in your soul.

The Thin Line of Right-Now

Our recent road trip east took us over bridges above the ocean that dipped into tunnels below the ocean. I took pictures out the window of road stretched thin in front of us, water on either side, and orange shades of setting sun hanging breathless in the sky. It’s a picture of the here-and-now moments of our lives.

Our right-now is where then and tomorrow meet. Then, with its best and worst cobbled together. Tomorrow, with its own mix of hope and expectation. We live both. Are both.

I felt it the day we spent at the beach. The peripheral view of the horizon. The nature of God I’m learning to know and trust deeply. The long, rough road still ahead. Hints of tomorrow interconnected with the moment I’m living.

The then-moments were there too. Milestones. Everyday life. Struggles. Celebrations. Some ended, some still in progress.

We don’t live moments in isolation but as a strung-together story of the whole of our lives. And the whole of our one life stacks with the stories of all before and behind us, arching into God’s redemptive plan to erase the distance between us and Him and fill the earth with His glory.

But right-now feels less weighty and more ordinary than all that. More like mundane scenery and less like the thinly-separated complexity of past and future.  

We forget that we’re always seeking something, always holding onto something. And naming them helps us identify the trajectory we’re on.

What Are You Seeking?

What we’re seeking tells us where we’re going. It’s push-pinning the character growth, connection with God, relational depth, life-giving rhythms we hope to see. Answering questions like what matters most to us and what we want Jesus to do for us (a question Jesus asked in Luke 18:41).

A great place to explore this is a section in Stuff I’d Only Tell God, Jennifer Dukes Lee’s guided journal, titled “Conversations with Jesus.” As Jennifer explains,

Jesus was an asker of provocative questions. Throughout the gospels, he asked direct questions of people he encountered. If he were in the room with you today and asked you some of his questions, how would you answer them?

pg. 172

Luke 18:41 is one of the questions Jennifer included, and the others are similarly gripping.

* Learn more about Stuff I’d Only Tell God HERE.

You can also grab a journal or your phone, bullet list or free-write your answer to What am I seeking? If you process better out loud, grab a trusted friend and invite her to conversation.

What Are You Holding?

Now that you’ve identified what you’re seeking, let’s talk about what’s in your hands.

Hurtful words—theirs, yours.

Unanswered prayers.

Something you can’t change, forgive, give up.

Tall expectations, not met.

It’s heavy, isn’t it? The weight of disappointment, grief, shame, regret. The knowing it’s not all right and life isn’t fair.

It’s important to get honest about what’s in our hands because when what we’re seeking and what we’re holding are at odds, we can’t get traction. We’re frustrated. Discontent. Stuck.

We long to be close to God, but can’t bridge the distance. Hear His voice, but the noise is too loud. Follow His plan for our lives. but we’re unsure what it even is.

Where Do These Questions Lead You?

What are you seeking?

What are you holding?

Where do these questions find you today? On a slow growth curve toward God? Slipping gradually away? In a full-blown tug of war?

What we’re seeking becomes our tomorrow, if what we bring with us from the past doesn’t change our course. The key to flourishing faith is to align what we’re holding onto and what we’re hoping for so they both point us to God.

This looks like replacing lies with truth. Shame with godly humility. Regret with forgiveness.

Clinging to what God calls you—chosen, adopted, forgiven, freed, beloved.

Holding the things that hurt and the things that validate our pride in open hands. Inviting God to fill us instead with “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23, ESV).

Invite Others Into Your Right-Now

If there’s one more thing I could tell you, it’s this: Here, teetering on that thin line of what’s present, is where we remember redemption, trace evidence of a faithful God, acknowledge scars fresh or still tender.

We’re people healed and still healing, whole in Christ yet pained by things unfair or broken.

We live in the both/and. The now, the coming, and the then.

And so do the people around you. Reach out to them. Share your in-progress story and how God sticks with you in the thick of it. Get curious about their stories. Link arms. Pray. Encourage. You need them and they need you.

A Prayer for You Right Now

In that thinly separated space of what you’ve walked through and what you’ll face next, here’s my prayer for you:

May God be present in your both/ands. Pull you close and whisper truth into your heart. Fill you with dreams too big for you to fulfill without Him.

May you find the God you seek has been steady by your side. May your hunger to know Him grow. May you have the courage to let go of all that creates distance between you and Him.

May you find people near you who care about the trajectory you’re on. May they be Jesus to you. May you be Jesus to them.

Just a friend over here in your corner,

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